The Garden of Light

Bournemouth, UK

The Bournemouth Arts by the Sea Festival is an annual event which showcases some of the best regional, national and international arts across dance, performance, film, theatre, light installation, spoken word and music. Initially set up in 2010 by Arts Bournemouth to encourage a greater awareness of and participation in arts, the festival has now gone on to become a must-see event.

During 2013 Arts Bournemouth asked award-winning local lighting design agency, Michael Grubb Studio, to create a series of light houses for the town's lower gardens and beach front area. Five houses were created each one providing its own individual sensory experience and demonstrating how space can be sculpted and defined by light.

UFO was delighted to be asked to supply the fiber optic lighting for Michael Grubb Studio's Optical World pod. The concept for their pod was to create a sensory environment in which the illusion of coloured clouds would be cast across the walls.

To achieve this, 700 strands of sideglow fiber were suspended from the ceiling of the beach house pod. The strands varied in length and when moved created a cloud-like burst on the three interior walls of the pods. Two metal halide illuminators were used to power the fiber with each having been customised to aid the cloud-like effect that illuminated the walls of the pod.

As no heat was emitted from fiber it was completely safe for visitors to immerse themselves in the strands of fiber and create unusual patterns on the walls. The pod proved to be a big hit with visitors of all ages who enjoyed the effects of the fiber cocoon.